Our Homefront
by Skylark Evanson
Summary: Some bonus material that should've been in "Homefront". Deleted scenes, extra conversations, etc.
1. Our Homefront

**A/N: This is the opening to a very short series. I'm just doing a few bonus strips from the episode "Homefront" that would've been a great extension to this episode that wasn't in the allotted time. So here are a few bonus scenes that I decided would've rocked.**

**First one isn't epic or anything, but I couldn't help myself after my fingers got to typing…**

**Disclaimer: Don't own. Bite me.**

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><p><strong><span>Our Homefront<span>**

"And Robin?"

Kaldur's voice sounds almost like a gunshot despite the screaming of blood in her ears. Her whole body is on fire with panic. She's watching Megan barely breathing, seeing Conner and Wally gasping for air, now free from the wrath of the watery grave they faced mere moments ago. Her heart pounds, her fists grip, and she walks on all four, chimp-like, to where the raven-haired child lay, thin form unmoving.

The tiniest gasp escapes her as she notices, as she turns his face upwards, that one half of his domino mask has been torn clean off, a pale eyelid there rather than sunglasses or fabric. Artemis can't believe she may actually be seeing this. This is... real? Her head throbs a little bit.

A finger presses to his neck, where his pulse should be beating like the rhythm of a drum, thump thump thump. There's nothing. "He's not breathing!" comes the cold, strangled cry from her throat as she then covers one hand with the other, places them both on his chest, and presses down with enough force to hopefully get the water out of his lungs.

She feels Kaldur'ahm's eyes on her, silver shafts like moonlight watching her with fear.

Artemis feels tears burning her eyes. "Come on," hisses the archer through gritted teeth. "Come on, Robin." Pain bubbles up in her throat, a hot bile ready to consume her. "It's your turn to get traught, you cheeky little bastard." She pumps down on his chest again.

He still doesn't breathe. His skin is cold; his uniform is soaked and still dripping little teardrops of water. His chest does not rise nor does it fall. That eyelid remains shut, unmoving, unblinking.

"He's still-" Her voice is breaking, shattering just as her heart is. She couldn't keep her own family together and now she can't keep this one together. Tears leave long, wet stains on her cheeks. "He's still not breathing!" Anger is now flooding through her voice as she again pushes down on his ribcage. "Why isn't he breathing?" she howls in despair, unable to fathom what this team would be like without their little bird.

"Careful!" was Wally's contribution, voice worried but not as panicky as that of the blonde. "You'll break his ribcage!"

"He's not even breathing anymore, Wally!" Her voice is a mix of a hiss and a yell. A sneer is upon her lips as she again feels for his pulse. Nothing. Any pitter-patter of a heartbeat is long gone. Again, she lines up her palms and pushes down on his chest, not yet giving up hope on this. "There's no pulse!"

Then a miraculous cough. A splutter and a longer stream of coughing. Then some spitting of the disgusting sea water. "I'm good," came his harsh breath. He coughs again heavily, trying to get all the water out of his lungs. "I'm good." His face is turned away from her, eye hidden. The blue is dull and pained, but he's upright and mobile. It's a good sign. "Clearly I've nearly drowned a few too many times..." Another cough, a half-smile.

Kaldur's sighing his relief and calling down to Superboy and Kid Flash while Artemis has her arms around the kid's neck, clinging to him just to keep him there, so he can't leave her again for Death. "Then stop almost-drowning, would you?" she asks, still holding him close like a concerned mother would a child. "You nearly gave us all heart attacks!" She still hasn't let go.

A choked chuckle comes from Robin as he attempts to worm his way out of her incredibly tight grasp. A mental note is made not to piss off the archer. She had the upper body strength to rival Batman at the least. "I'll see what I can do, no promises." And he manages to pull away.

Blue. It's blue. She can't believe it for a moment, but then it hits her like a ton of bricks that she can see his eye. Blue enough to put the ocean to shame, blue enough to make even the brightest sky seem dull and lifeless. There's so much hope in those eyes that she can hardly believe he was on the brink of death only seconds ago.

He sees her face, shock penned all over it. He reaches for his face, finding one half of the domino mask absent from its usual place. He feels the torn fabric that covers his other eye. Robin pauses, contemplates a decision, and removes the rest of the mask. A faint smile touches his still cold lips. "Told you we'd laugh one day," he said weakly after giving a little cough and looking at the ground. Secret's out anyways, why lie? "Turns out it was the same day."

A pause. A faint flicker of recognition in her eyes as she hears a girl's moan as Kaldur hauls Megan up off the floor and towards Conner and Wally. "Freshman?" she asks, subconsciously aware that she knows his name, but just can't put a finger on it.

"Grayson," he says softly, putting a hand to his chest where he knows the girl fractured one of his ribs. Never piss of an archer. "Richard Grayson." The bird looks to her with his innocent blue eyes and his tired smile, knowing that he could trust her. After all, she'd just saved their lives, hadn't she?

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><p><strong>AN: I'm looking at three, maybe four other chapters? Not a ton. Review?**

**~Sky**


	2. Nine

**A/N: Decided I'd get this done fast so I don't have another stray fic runnin' around. So here's another chapter. Thanks out there to all of you for reviewing!**

**I know this is against continuity of "Alpha Male" directly after "Homefront", but this hit me before this continuity and I wanted to get it down. So pretend there's a slight time lapse. For the sake of reading. Oh, also, none of these one-shots are related in any way unless otherwise stated.**

**Disclaimer: Nope, don't own, sorry.**

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><p><strong><span>Nine<span>**

It takes her a while to compute it, but as they're zeta-beaming back to Gotham, she catches his arm and pulls him aside, a few questions striking through her skull like the talons of a bird of prey. "How long did you say you've been doing this?" she asked after looking quickly to see who all was nearby. Megan was being harassed by Wally, as was usual, and Conner was at her side for protection upon request. Kaldur was nowhere to be seen. Who knew where he disappeared to some days...

"Since I was nine." His response is automatic, almost like a recording on an answering machine. Yet his voice was still Robin's. "Curious are we?" he asks with a sly smirk on his face and one raised brow.

Her face twists up in confusion. "Not curious, just stunned." She looks him over, trying to piece together how old he is. Younger than fifteen, older than eleven is about all she can get from him. The way he talks, he sounds about sixteen, calm with his words and yet still immature about every joke you'd learn in middle school. "You're, what, fourteen? _And_ you're the greatest partner on the planet?" She puts a finger to her temple, trying to figure this one out. "How do you do it all?"

His hands are placed on his hips and the smirk still remains. He looks her over behind the mask and almost wonders why she has the right to question him. The Boy Wonder still doesn't comment. He just lets her ask away. It's no harm to him. They'd bonded over nearly drowning and burning together. And getting traught. That was pretty fun in his opinion. A normal day in the life of Robin. "Care to be specific?"

"How can you do all the acrobatics? You can't just learn that in three or four years!" She knows. She'd tried it once. Gymnastics had never been her strongest point, but once her father had put a bow and arrow in her hands, the ability to kill followed suit. Yes, she still knew her fair share of flips other such necessary things, but her skill level was nowhere near his.

"Been doing that since I was five. Next?" Again, like he was an answering machine responding to her questions. Rehearsed, practiced, recorded. Of course, being the ward of Bruce Wayne, he'd adapted well to answering questions as was expected. Reporters harassing him all the time, he had to be ready to spew out the generic answer of "Yes" or "No" or "No comment". These responses had been prepped with Batman years ago in case someone started prying. Artemis was a perfect example of when and where to use this training.

"But-" The continuity wasn't flowing right... Nine then five, where was the four in between? Four whole years missing-

"Acrobat since I was five, picked up Robin when I was nine. Completely unrelated training." His face seems to stiffen. "Next?" Robin sounds like he's calling for the next person in line for an audition. An automatic response.

Well, it obviously has to be followed up by Artemis asking, "Why so young?"

His face hardens. She can imagine his eyes turning to stone beneath the domino mask. She sees his fists clench slightly. "Bad stuff happened when I was younger. Circumstances led to Batman and my curiosity led to Robin. That's all I can give you without my whole life story leaking onto the internet." That, and he doesn't want to talk about it. Some days are already hard without mentioning it. Saying what went down is even harder. "What else?" He wants this interrogation to be over. If she presses too many of the wrong buttons, he may not have a knight to swoop in and save him.

"Why are you so calm about it?" She had been stunned earlier when he was so serene about their friends being murdered. He'd been silent most of the time except for the routine Robin things: here's the plan, here's how we're gonna do it, crack a wise guy joke, throw in some new word he just made up, and get the job done. He'd cut most of the jokes and had been darker than usual for the day. Her eyes had seen it all. "About everything?"

"You know Gotham as well as I do." He's no fool. He knows where she lives, about her mom, about her dad. He did his research. He's pretty sure she knows that he knows. "When you live there, it's bad. Especially when you get kidnapped every other week, nearly drown every few months, stabbed once a week, bruises every night." He shrugs and wishes he had pockets to shove his hands into. Tights are inconvenient for such things. "Adapt and overcome. Survival of the fittest, you know?"

She knew. All too well, really. You kill the assassin higher than you to keep from getting killed yourself. That was how the League of Shadows worked. It did take her a few seconds to realize that his implications meant he knew she lived in Gotham. She doesn't mind. She trusts him enough.

"Besides, we don't want to get dead, now do we?" He smiles up at her, his lips a little crooked, his blue eyes still dim with dark memories of a screaming crowd and two pools of blood. "So we've got to stay traught."

"Yep." She fingers her bow nervously, the metal cool against her skin. Her eyes are on the floor. The poor kid's been best up worse than she has, not to mention on more than one occasion. She always thought she had it bad, but he was thrust into a dangerous lifestyle young and forced to live like an animal rather than a fellow human, always beaten and bruised by the bigger beasts. And she just wants to clarify, "Nine?"

He nods and begins to set the coordinates on the zeta-beam. "Nine." He steps into the blue light and finds himself in the telephone booth moments later. Some part of him feels a little broken, and yet he still feels healed all the same. She knows the same pain.

He could see it in her eyes.

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><p><strong>AN: I know he's thirteen. Artemis doesn't know that.**

**Review?**

**~Sky**


	3. New Girl

**A/N: Because Babs definitely did NOT get enough screen time.**

**Sidenote: Babs _is_ Batgirl in this one.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own.**

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><p><strong>New Girl<strong>

"Friendly." That one word dripped and oozed sarcasm when coming out of her mouth.

"Is that jealousy I hear?" asked Dick, quick to follow Babs as she walked away. "Are you-" He gave a coughed laugh. "Are you jealous that I hang out with other girls?"

She coughed her own scornful laugh and gave the freshman at her side a little shove. "You're funny." She rolled her bluish green eyes and walked onwards towards the history class they'd gotten into together by some _strange miracle_. (That also sometimes went by the nickname of Bruce Wayne.) "No, it's just weird that you're already messing with the new girl."

He laughed, his signature snicker being giggled out of Grayson. He paused, recomposed, and laughed again. Because Barbara could be so unintentionally punny sometimes. New girl, perhaps. At Gotham Academy, at least. Oh wait, and on the team. Dick cracked a broad smile and trotted along like a dog beside it's master as he looked up at Barbara. "You could call her that."

The redhead let out a slightly annoyed sigh and rolled her eyes yet again. Babs checked over her shoulder once to see Bette walking the awkward blonde over in their direction. Gordon gave her favorite little freshman an elbow. "Did Brucie set this one up?"

"What doesn't he set up?" sniggered the ebony-haired boy under his breath. "He could pull a string and get me a driver's license if he wanted to. Between corrupted cops and all the money in the world, it's not hard to do stuff in this town." He stuck his hands in his pockets and watched the world passing them by. His pale cobalt eyes took in girls giggling and flipping their hair, boys checking out bodies, nerds with their phones hidden in their laps, a few slackers running to class, more than one person scribbling notes on papers. "Besides, he wants me to keep an eye on her."

"You?" scoffed the chief's daughter, looking down at him with a hilariously over-exaggerated "You're kidding me?" look. "_You_, Mister Macho, would be keeping an eye on that too-short skirt."

He belted out one quick laugh before letting his voice get serious despite the broad smile he still wore. "Babs, you have got this all wrong. Wally's chasing that skirt, not me. Although he doesn't even know it yet..." His lips pursed for a moment. "Anyways, not like you could do better."

"I feel like I should take that as a challenge, Grayson." She mulled over it for a second. "Yes, that's a challenge. While you chase the skirt-"

"Which I won't."

"-I will be keeping an eye on her for Bruce." The redhead would've given herself a nice pat on the back if they weren't in school. It wasn't exactly a good time for some of her good ol' hubris to shine through.

Dick had a quick thought that he wasted no time in quipping out at the chief's daughter. "What if Bette is the one really keeping an eye on her?"

Barbara's lips formed a little 'o' shape. "Three sets of eyes, one gets the prize. Respect to Bruce, I will say." She nodded to the boy who then nodded himself and smiled. Babs concluded, "He takes his job very seriously."

"Clearly."

Barbara, her curiosity still insatiable, had to ask, "What's her name again? You know, just so I can follow her better." For some reason, she had to clarify her purpose. It was just an innate need to do so. So he didn't get the wrong idea.

Oh yeah, she was jealous, no question. Or at least that was what he wanted to think. "Artemis Crock," he told her as they entered the history class already packed with sophomores and juniors.

They found their seats side-by-side just as the bell rang.

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><p><strong>AN: Next one should be posted within the hour.**

**~Sky**


	4. Helpless, Hopeless

**A/N: This kind of failed. Felt longer when I was writing it, although that may have been because it was insanely late at night.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own.**

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><p><strong>Helpless, Hopeless<strong>

"We're dead! We're sitting ducks, fish in a barrel, a mouse in a cat's paws, this isn't going to end well!" Artemis was practically hyperventilating as she sat beside Robin in the air ducts, the two of them taking a quick breather before running for their lives again. It wouldn't take much to flood the air ducts if their attackers really wanted to. They didn't want to take the risk of waiting to see whether these opponents would do it.

"Come on, Artemis, just stay focused." He had his head between his knees and was just trying to get a plan in his head. Generally, it only took a few seconds. But then again, he was working with an unfamiliar partner in still unfamiliar territory against unfamiliar enemies. Drop him in Gotham with the Joker and Batman at his side, no big deal. Even Kid Flash or Red Arrow would've been a better partner than this archer. He didn't know her strengths or weaknesses or even how close to the brink of death she was willing to go. He knew Roy would go all the way and that KF would always get close but pull out last second, but Artemis was foreign to him. "No time to screw this up. We've got friends at stake here."

"Then make this work," she said quietly, voice getting calmer. Yet he could sense a hopelessness that she wasn't trying very hard to hide. "_You're_the leader this time, not Kaldur. I heard you wanted to succeed him." Her blue eyes found his slightly shivering form. They were both soaking wet, hair dripping, skin cold. "Now's your chance."

"Obviously." He rocked his weight forward so that he was up in a crouch. Droplets of water fell from his ebony locks. "So I need you focused. It can't be just me fighting." Behind the mask, his tired, broken eyes looked to her helpless, desperate face. He reached a gloved hand out to the archer, offering to pull her up as much as possible in an air duct. Of course, being in an air duct was a limit in itself. "You with me here?"

He was so focused. It was almost chilling how serious he was, how good he was at all of this. The way he knew how to track, how to avoid specific attacks, exactly what was where, what paths to take, where all the machinery in the whole mountain was. He knew everything. If anyone needed an encyclopedia, they could just call on him. He was like a walking talking dictionary too. She looked him over and saw the way his body language screamed "I'm scared" and how he couldn't keep his lips perfectly straight as he usually could when they weren't wearing a smile. A pitiful frown tugged down on the corners of his mouth. Artemis took his hand. Because if she wasn't with him, who was? Certainly not the rest of the team. Not when they were prisoners of war. "Let's go." Her voice cracked; she was ashamed of it, but what could she do? They were fighting a losing battle and were practically signing the suicide note. "I'm hoping you have a plan?"

An emptiness sank into his heart like lead in water. Dread drove through his veins. "Still working on that." He crawled on his hands and knees down the duct, looking into all the rooms for any ideas or any signs of their enemies. He felt bare without someone he knew watching his back."Hope I can figure it out soon."

Artemis, perfectly aware of their heavily impending doom, followed close behind him, watching his cape swish at his ankles. "Me too." She kept shuffling through the duct, her ponytail banging against the top of the metal space. "But at least we're in this together." Being left behind by her sister felt like a lifetime ago. It was better to be with Robin than to be alone. At least he wouldn't leave her alone.

She wouldn't see it, but a sad smile was perched on his broken, hopeless face. "At least we're in it together." He kept moving, praying for something to go his way, just for once. He couldn't let them down. Not this time.

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><p><strong>AN: I felt like the episode needed a calm moment. We had, like, one, but it wasn't nearly enough to balance with the action. Anyways, review? I've got more coming up, just not today.**

**~Sky**


	5. Mask of Defeat

**A/N: Short because someone else already did an entire story on it. (I can't remember the author to save my life, but it was pretty good from what little I skimmed through.) So I touched on the basic point.**

**Disclaimer: Do not own.**

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><p><strong><span>Mask of Defeat<span>**

Her fingers ran along the mask, then along the arrow, the tip sharp, pricking her finger, and then her touch found smooth metal, shimmering and gold.

There were two options for her, the arrow or the helmet. She knew which she preferred, she knew which way she wanted it to go. One guaranteed a win; the other provided gray amidst the black and white of victory and defeat. Artemis's gaze fell back on the mask. "I won't leave them." She knew why these emotions were so strong. She knew abandonment at a young age. She would not abandon them. "I won't."

Artemis picked up the helmet and began her trek, bow tucked tight to her body as she kept the metal mask under one arm. The arrow wasn't an option; it left too much up to destiny to decide. Dr. Fate was the only thing that could save her friends; she had to save them.

If they died...

Artemis would never forgive herself.

Feet tracing a path to the main room, the archer kept a brave face. She knew what she'd see. Conner and Wally drowning. M'gann and Kaldur burning. Robin, lying there, unconscious, unmoving. She wouldn't cry. She was not alone. She just wasn't.

She had her friends there, dying, but they were there. She had Fate walking alongside of her, his power in her grasp. Her sister, the one that'd left her behind so long ago, was following in her shadow, watching, waiting for the kill. Artemis was not alone. She had more than enough people there for her, waiting for her to fail because she would never be strong enough to face the day when she had to risk everything for others.

When she entered, the red robots turned, fire flaring up by the female, the water shifting in the sea from the male. Artemis knew they would see the helmet; whether they comprehended the forces she held was another story. If they didn't know what the helmet did, she would stand a chance. If they did, her luck had just run out.

They watched her close in, eyes like a lion's as it stared down its prey. The male's metal fist clenched; the female took a threatening step forward.

Artemis dropped the bow, leaving two yards between her and her opponents. One hand reached for the front of the helmet and her fingers went through the eye slits. She pulled it on over her head and felt the power of Fate at her fingertips.

"I was expecting your friend," said the old man standing in the spotlight beside Artemis as she was plunged into the darkness of the helmet's inner mind. "But Nabu would have rejected him soon enough. Although it's good to see you in here, kid."

Her body was hot and then cold, but she saw nothing except for Kent Nelson and the silver spotlight shining down on her. A hit here, a blast of water there. It hurt, but she refrained from showing any signs of pain. "Dr. Fate is our last hope," Artemis choked out. She bit her lip as her body was thrown into water; icy ocean filled her throat and her lungs were suddenly begging for air even though there was nothing around her but air, plenty of air, so much air-

She fell to the ground and Kent Nelson hovered over her quietly, not touching her but watching her drown in empty, dark air. He looked away while she clutched at her throat. He couldn't bear to know that another spirit would be trapped in here with him, dead by the helmet.

He didn't watch.

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><p><strong>AN: Eh, feels weak x.x Anyways, I got maybe two more up my sleeve. My quick-access to the episode is limited due to my busted DVR. Leave a review?**

**~Sky**


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